Must be that time of year again bit of water on the roads and the cooling fans failed on my my2011 s.3 Ducato. Did the usual ring around of the fiat dealers on the east coast of Australia told the usual $700 + and would have to wait the customary 4 to 5 days for delivery and here i am stuck on the side of the road at Moura in central Queensland in 35c heat. After careful deliberation i ventured forward with the aircon off and found at 85kms/hr the engine temp stayed in the normal range (Oversize sign up as its a pilot vehicle and was working at the time) so airflow must be sufficient through if i don't push it i even left the vehicle idling to see what would happen and found that it didn't boil i even drove the 1200 kms home without them.
When home i removed the fans and shroud found both fan motors with major problems and resigned myself to purchasing another set sat down with a cold one and thought about my situation.
Measuring the fans i found fiat fit 1x13" fan and 1x15" fan so i thought why not fit 2x14" fans may work and would be cheaper. So $135 later i had my new fans and tried to modify the fiat shroud gave up on that idea quickly so looked closer at how fiat mounted the original shrouding to the vehicle and measured the lugs found the radiator was 900mm long with two lugs evenly spaced along each side 200mm apart measured the new fans and found the mounting lugs had 200mm centres .
Raided the scrap pile for some steel strap (19mmx3mm) attached the new fans to the strap and fitted to the vehicle even used the fiat locking lugs and wired them up and the check engine light went out and the fans worked as per usual.Just got back from a 3000km trip with varying temps and hills and everything worked as per usual.
Overall cost $135 for both fans 2x beers and some scrap steel far cheaper than what i was quoted and i didn't even modify the wiring
Safe Traveling Cheers Adam

I like a happy ending!